NBA – Atlanta Hawks in the offseason: shooters with puppy protection

The Atlanta Hawks picked up two more potential young cornerstones in the offseason and otherwise subordinated everything to one goal: Cap Space next summer. In the meantime, there is a gap in the Trae Young team.

Atlanta Hawks: The Transactions

For the second year in a row, Hawks GM Travis Schlenk initiated a trade on draft day, but this time the Hawks were the team that traded up. For # 4 pick De’Andre Hunter, Solomon Hill and Jordan Bone, Schlenk sent the picks for Jaxson Hayes, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Marcos Louzada Silva as well as a 2020 first-round pick to New Orleans.

Bone was shipped to Detroit and Hill did not stay long either, instead he was traded to Memphis with Miles Plumlee for the expiring contract of Chandler Parsons. Omari Spellman joined the Warriors in exchange for Damian Jones and Kent Bazemore was sent to the Trail Blazers for Evan Turner.

To do this, the Hawks Brooklyn took the contract from Allen Crabbe and were paid for with a 2020 first-round pick and the later Alexander Walker pick. Taurean Prince was also given up.

In addition to Hunter, Cam Reddish, who completed last year’s trade by Luka Doncic and Trae Young, and Bruno Fernando also made it into the draft. The only notable new free agent was Jabari Parker (2 years / $ 13 million), and Vince Carter was once again held for his now 22nd NBA season (1 / 2.6 million). Dewayne Dedmon left the Hawks for Sacramento.

Atlanta Hawks: The most important dates for 2018/19

Bilanz Regular Season	Offensiv-Rating	Defensiv-Rating	Net-Rating
29-53 (13th place in the east)	107,5 (23.)	113,1 (27.)	-5,5 (26.)

Atlanta Hawks: The Strategy

Schlenk clearly pursued and achieved two goals this summer. On the one hand, he wanted to include a new, defensively strong cornerstone in his young core in Forward Hunter, which should develop together with Trae Young and John Collins, on the other hand, he wanted to further equip the team for summer 2020.

This year the Hawks were not yet a factor in the free agent market, nor were they financially capable of doing so. Next summer, on the other hand, the Hawks’ books are now just under $ 37 million, as the lucrative deals from Crabbe, Parsons and Turner all expire. Then Atlanta also wants to be sporty enough to attract one or two stars – even if there won’t be as many of them on the market in 2020 as this year.

How do the Hawks become athletically attractive? By continuing to rely on their young players, who already caused a stir in the second half of the 18/19 season. This should continue on the offensive, with a lot of firepower added again in the summer. Hunter stands for versatility, while Reddish and Parker are above all scorers.

The Atlanta Hawks roster

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Small Forward	Power Forward	Center
Bring young	Kevin Huerter	De’Andre Hunter	John Collins	Alex Len
Evan Turner	Allen Crabbe	Cameron Reddish	Jabari Parker	Damion Jones
	Vince Carter	Deandre’ Bembry	Chandler Parsons	Bruno Fernando
	Charlie Brown Jr.

Atlanta Hawks: The Vulnerabilities

The Hawks have now occupied the previously very thin wing better, but there is actually still a backup for Young on the one missing – perhaps Turner, who had already taken over the construction of the bench for the Blazers, should take over. However, that would also remain a thin cast.

Apart from that, the defense remains at least suspicious despite Hunter. Only the Cavs and Suns defended worse than Atlanta last season and a massive increase is not expected here for the time being.

The hope will be that Jones or even Fernando in perspective will grow into the role of Rim Protector and that Collins will make the leap he recently asked of himself. The backcourt, on the other hand, is extremely weak defensively, especially in the person of Young. Even a top 20 defense would be a success for this squad.

Atlanta Hawks: The Bearer of Hope

As in the previous year, the names Young and Collins in particular remain here and the Big Man in particular seems ripe to make the step to becoming an All-Star in his third season. That would have been possible last season if he hadn’t missed all of the first 15 games of the season.

With 19.5 points and 9.8 boards, he almost made it into the 20/10 club, where he would have been the only player with at least 34 percent off the triple line alongside Karl-Anthony Towns. The throw makes Collins so interesting offensively, especially since he was still very reluctant to pull the trigger as a rookie – in year two he already took 2.6 triples per game, sometimes even from dribbling.

Collins still has his concentration gaps and deficits defensively, but offensively he has everything to become a real star. Especially since his coordination with Young felt better and better over the course of the season, as he too slowly arrived in the league.